If it's Sunday . . .

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

We must be declaring a snow emergency.

Here's the Connect CTY Script:

Hello, this is Tom Champion calling from the City of Somerville with snow alert information for Sunday, January 13th. Based on current weather projections, the City will be declaring a snow emergency effective at 8 p.m. this evening. During snow emergencies, parking is allowed on the odd-numbered side of the street only (unless otherwise posted). Cars not moved from the even numbered side of the street by 12 midnight tonight may be subject to ticketing and towing. Residents unable to find a parking space on the odd-numbered side of the street may park in any municipal lot or in designated school parking lots.

Please note that the Somerville School Department has also canceled classes for tomorrow, Monday, January 14th. Parents of students in the Somerville Public Schools will receive a confirming call from Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi later this evening. For additional information, please call the city’s 311 constituent service line. Thank you.

And here's the NWS Weather Alert issued at 3:34 p.m.(pardon the caps):

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 7 PM EST MONDAY.

THE HEAVY SNOW WARNING INCLUDES NORTHERN CONNECTICUT...WESTERN... CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS... AND SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE.

SNOWFALL TOTALS OF 8 TO 14 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY MONDAY EVENING.

SNOW WILL BEGIN AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY AND WILL REACH THE MERRIMACK VALLEY AROUND 4 AM. SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES BEFORE DAYBREAK...AND WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY.

SNOW WILL TAPER OFF MONDAY AFTERNOON... FIRST NEAR THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY AROUND 2 PM AND THEN IN THE MERRIMACK VALLEY AROUND 5 PM.

DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM MONDAY...SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE LIKELY. TRAVEL WILL BE HAZARDOUS FROM THE COMBINATION OF POOR VISIBILITY AND SNOW COVERED ROADWAYS.
----------------
My unofficial advice is to avoid rush hour tomorrow unless you have no alternative. It's gonna be nasty.

Comments

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Are you going to give me a wake up call Tom? :)

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

It seems very unlikely that we'll be canceling in the early a.m. But you never know . . . :)

[docorion.livejournal.com]

Huh. Thanks for the update. I have a question; some while ago, someone mentioned in this forum that cell phones are not apparently called by the city alert system. I pooh-poohed this, as it did not seem to me reasonable that this should be so, yet I get the email notifications without fail, while I have received exactly zero phone notifications (and I've checked; the city web site where one signs up for that tells me I'm already signed up when I try to sign up again). Do cell phones in fact not get called? Must the phone number have a Somerville exchange (mine does not)? Or must one have an Actual Land Line In Somerville (which ain't happening; I'm happy without a landline or the charges therefor, thanks)?

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Several people I know get the calls on their cell phones, and I used to, before I cancelled because e-mail's better for me. Still, the problem might be cell phone related in some way... it could have something to do with the area code -- all the people I'm thinking of are 617.

Cell Phones

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

My wife gets a call on her cell phone (617 area code) each and every time Tom / Somerville does a phone blast. So maybe it is an area code issue? What area code is your cell number?

Re: Cell Phones

[mkwatt.livejournal.com]

my 978 area code cell phone gets the calls...

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Docorion:

My apologies.

If you gave us a name, address and ANY ten-digit phone number -- including a cell phone number -- you should be getting your call.

If there's no address, the system can't geo-code, and has trouble making calls.

Please email me your cell number privately at tchampion@somervillema.gov and I'll look it up in the database to see what gives.

[cowhockey.livejournal.com]

i get calls to my 781-cell phone

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

You could, of course, have the e-mail notification sent to your cellphone. Pretty much any cell service with text messaging has an email gateway even if it's not widely advertised.

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Same problem here, actually, although I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the godawful reception in my apartment.

garbage and recycling?

[artemii.livejournal.com]

i realize this may be a stupid question, but here i go anyway: are garbage and recycling pick-ups affected by snow emergencies? thanks.

Re: garbage and recycling?

[cowhockey.livejournal.com]

i was wondering this too. also with MLK day next monday is trash affected?

Re: garbage and recycling?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Trash and recycling days remain the same no matter what the weather.

MLK Day is a national holiday -- all trash pickups are delayed by one day throughout the week. BUT if you see a truck in your neighborhood on the regular day, don't panic: they'll be back again the next day. Really.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Tom. Sounds like I'll be glad to be at home all day tomorrow!

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Thanks, Tom.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I've laid in a stock of booze and mixers and have the day off anyways to watch the madness on the news.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

I kind of miss the old days: during my first Boston snowstorm in 1992 or 1993, I remember watching a local newscast showing people stocking up for a storm that wound up dropping a foot of snow.

They (briefly) interviewed a lady coming out of Star Market pushing a cart with four gallons of milk and 96 rolls of toilet paper (nothing else), which kind of tipped me off to some subsections of the local mentality.

French Toast Alert System

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

To better understand what's going on in the supermarkets right now, you may want to check out the French Toast Alert System at
http://www.universalhub.com/french-toast

It doesn't explain the need for 96 rolls of T.P. though . . .

Re: French Toast Alert System

[ron_newman]

Farmer's Bounty was very quiet when I shopped there just before they closed at 10 pm.

Re: French Toast Alert System

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

I was wondering where all the toilet paper went.

Re: French Toast Alert System

[apricot3.livejournal.com]

Nice! when i couldn't find parking on the correct side of the street last night i went shopping and was surprised at the lack of eggs, now i know why!

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

This is because people remember the storm of '78 in which roads were shut down and food was rationed. It's hard to believe.

[labellabonaroba.livejournal.com]

Hi all. I just noticed that the Somerville public school district has already canceled classes for tomorrow! FYI

[ron_newman]

Yes, that was in Tom's post (and robo-call)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Hi Tom,

Quick question. Ive lived on my road for three years now. My family lived in this house before that. The snow emergency is ALWAYS having people park on the odd side of the road...which happens to be my house. Why is the odd side not alternated maybe every year like in other places? It seems a little unfair to those of us who own. I have no idea who to pose this question to really.

[ron_newman]

That was brought up in the Board of Aldermen a few months ago, I recall seeing it in the Somerville Journal. One surprising reason that was given was that there are more legal parking places on the odd side of the street citywide than the even side. Not sure why, maybe something to do with where fire hydrants are located.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Hmm on my street thats def. not true.

Its just really annoying because not only does everyone park on my side but the plows dont seem to push the snow to the even side...its ALWAYS piled towards my side amongst the larger driveways.

[gildersleeve.livejournal.com]

I think that would only complicate things further....

However it would be nice if they actually plowed the even side of the street to the curb so that we could all park on the other side as soon as the snow ends... usually they do a half-assed job and that side remains un-parkable until heavy melting occurs.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

This is very true, it makes you wonder why they bother having the parking regulation in the first place. I really can't tell between the side that had cars parked on it and the side that did not.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

The snow has to go somewhere. Unless they were out there using dump trucks and loaders. It's pretty much up to the residents to shovel out the odd side of the street, and toss the snow in their front yards.

To the above post: after a storm there is definitely less snow on the odd side where the cars were.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info Tom.

I was just reading on boston.com that the city of Boston has community centers that are open when schools are closed due to weather, as a place for people to go with their cabin-fever-crazed kids. I don't suppose Somerville has anything like that? I'm part of the (small minority) demographic whose reaction to a snow day is not "woohoo" but "oh sh*t"...i.e., parents with small kids. ;)

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

Growing up in the area (and being one of those little kids) my mom just threw us out of the house on snow days to play in the snow. We'd come back in tuckered out for hot cocoa and cartoons and be very mellow.

Just a thought....

[ron_newman]

The blue snow-emergency light in Davis Square (across Highland Avenue from Middlesex Federal Savings) was not blinking when I walked by it a few minutes ago.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I can report the one in Ball Square was blinking when I went by a half-hour or so ago.

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Blue Lights: Davis Square is still balky. All the other lights should have been on by nine or so last night.

Odds'n'evens: This comes up every few years. Allegedly a study done in the early 1990s found that, on the whole, there were more parking spaces and more hydrants on the odd side of the street than on the even, but I have never been able to find the data -- and I've looked at DPW and at T&P. I'm told that the communities that switch off, such as Medford, ban parking on the forbidden side for the whole winter -- not just when there's a snow emergency. That's easy to enforce and understand, but cuts down substantially on the number of parking spaces available during most winter days. Since I live on the even side of the street myself, I am sympathetic to those who, like me must cope with the extra shoveling, but I also know that a system that changes annually will create a lot of confusion and require a lot of explaining every year. Maybe those who want the change can persuade their aldermen to spearhead a new ordinance, but I like the simplicity and predictability of the current rule. Every neighborhood is different, every combination of X and T intersections is different and there's a lot of variety in hydrant placement, etc. The only sure thing is that, whatever the system, plenty of people will object.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Is that a typo, when you associated "even side" with "more shoveling"?

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

No, the even side had more shoveling because the plows come by every hour and plow in your driveway again (and again and again). The odd side doesn't get plowed in the same way.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Oh! yes! Sorry! My brain temporarily malfunctioned. I was thinking "but I live on the odd side and the plows keep plowing in my driveway and I have to shovel over and over" except, HAH, I live on the even side and am actually a moron. Never mind! :)

[ron_newman]

Hi, Tom! Now that the emergency is over, I'm slightly curious why the reopening of the Paddock restaurant earned an official City of Somerville press release. Martsa on Elm didn't get one....

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

I don't know that a press release was called for, but the Paddock has been around much longer than most Somerville restaurants.

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Martsa on Elm could have had one. So far as I know, they didn't ask.

In the case of the Paddock, several aldermen approached us and we were happy to oblige. We have done "grand opening" or reopening photo releases for all sorts of businesses all over the city. We try to accommodate any merchant or alderman who asks for a ribbon-cutting or photo release. It's an entirely non-exclusive thing. (Okay, maybe we'd think twice about accommodating an adult bookstore.) But we need a request.

[ron_newman]

Thanks, Tom! I did not know any of this.